Houston Astros right fielder Josh Reddick, second left, waves to live batting practice hitters at the end of a session with fellow outfielders George Springer, from left, Jake Marisnick and Michael Brantley at Fitteam Ballpark of The Palm Beaches on Day 7 of spring training on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in West Palm Beach.

Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Photographer

JUPITER, Fla. — A hallmark of the Astros under A.J. Hinch is versatility. In spring training, the manager maneuvers his defenders around the field in sometimes unorthodox ways, cognizant he may never actually use the alignments in a regular-season game.

Thursday, for example, Hinch started Michael Brantley in right field against the Marlins. Never in Brantley’s 1,053 major league games has he appeared there.

Brantley told Hinch in the team’s morning meeting that the last time he played right field, he was a minor league player brought over to major league camp for a spring training game.

“I’m literally trying to think of every scenario that may be possible in the outfield,” Hinch said. “He needs to be comfortable in right.”

There stands a possibility Hinch could deploy an outfield of Brantley, Tony Kemp and George Springer on a given day. Perhaps Aledmys Diaz and Jake Marisnick accompany Brantley in another instance.

Diaz and Kemp are viewed primarily as left fielders. Diaz has never appeared in right during a major league game and Kemp has played there only twice.

Brantley’s exposure to right field is not the extent of Houston’s outfield manipulation. Right fielder Josh Reddick said Thursday his work at first base early in spring training has “opened some eyes.”

Reddick has appeared at first base once as a major leaguer, on a zany April afternoon in Oakland during the Astros’ 2017 World Series run. Houston rallied from an early five-run deficit with 10 runs in the final four innings. The Astros’ bench was exhausted in a way that required pitcher Mike Fiers to enter as a pinch runner and Reddick to play the ninth inning at first base.

“I got two put outs just by happenstance,” said Reddick, who did not field a ground ball that day but has spent early work in spring training doing so.

"It’s actually been pretty good,” Reddick said. “It’s obviously been a while since I’ve been in the infield, but from working on this offseason to now, it’s been pretty solid. From what they’ve told me, it’s opened a few eyes and really surprised a lot of people how well I’ve performed.”

On Thursday, Hinch intimated Reddick will get reps at first base, both in minor league spring training games and Grapefruit League contests.

Whether Reddick plays first base in major league games is contingent upon how Houston’s designated hitter role manifests. Tyler White is a serviceable option. Diaz is “not doing a ton” of work at first, Hinch said Thursday.

“Overall, I feel comfortable, we just have to see what happens when the game comes,” Reddick said. “I never even thought about it until the conversations came up to where the roster shakeups were a little different now with given situations.”

Chandler Rome joined the Houston Chronicle in 2018 to cover the Astros after spending one year in Tuscaloosa covering Alabama football — during which Nick Saban asked if he attended college. He did, at LSU, where he covered the Tigers baseball team for nearly four years. He covered most of the Astros' 2015 playoff run, too, as an intern for MLB.com